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The poll is now closed and votes are being counted to decide the winners of EuroWeek’s annual Syndicated Loans & Leveraged Finance Awards.

Hayden Briscoe, director of Asia Pacific fixed income at AllianceBernstein, talks to Asiamoney PLUS about the changes he has made to his portfolio throughout the summer volatility and how he will invest in the months ahead.

—Alex Matturri, ceo at S&P Dow Jones Indices, on the impact of the new volatility product offering in Asia from S&P and the Australian Securities Exchange, which began trading on Monday.

The Japan Securities Clearing Corp. is investigating the possibility of clearing cross currency swaps, according to Takeshi Hirano, director, strategic planning and over-the-counter clearing service. If it goes ahead, it would be the first clearinghouse to clear the swaps.

Asiamoney PLUS highlights the latest job changes from across the fixed income and financial markets.

Top 3 Asia (ex Japan) Syndicated Loans Transactions - 2013 YTD

Chinese state-owned enterprises have enjoyed solid support in the international bond markets because of the perception that their strategic importance will make a default highly unlikely. That level of support could change in the coming years, making it crucial for investors to start digging deeper into fundamentals rather than relying simply on uplifted credit ratings.

Dollar funders in the sovereign, supranational and agency market will be looking to take as many funding opportunities as possible before US politicians resume their wrangling over the country’s budget and debt ceiling early next year. But the smartest borrowers will not only look to traditional sources of supply to bring in cash — they will throw some investor diversification into the bargain.

The Covered Bond Label Convention should be applauded for tightening up the definition of what makes a covered bond. But a common transparency standard for investors is the real prize that issuers should be striving for to ensure covered bonds are always a step ahead of the competition — and the regulators.

European leveraged loan investors have long been more conservative than their US counterparts, insisting on stricter terms and wider pricing. But with ever more European borrowers crossing the Atlantic to issue loans, lenders in Europe need to grow more flexible. If they don’t, they run the risk of losing out to stark competition from the US.

The region has not seen a corporate hybrid since Moody’s tightened rules on equity content and supply is likely to be constained as investment banks figure out how best to structure a deal.

RBS’ Asia ex-Japan debt syndicate desk has shrunk to two people after Valerie Lee joins Standard Chartered, yet the bank aims to rebuild with new hires.